5 Exciting Brand Activations in Decentraland

The metaverse, much like the universe itself, continues to expand. And Decentraland remains its most prolific platform, with people, brands, and blockchains continuing to grow the already vast virtual reality environment.

Brands in particular are finding new and exciting forms of blockchain marketing within Decentraland, connecting directly to consumers while bridging the distance between the IRL things people already love and new forms of brand interactions and activations. 

Below, we outline five of our favorite recent brand activations in Decentraland. 

Sotheby’s Virtual Auction House

Sotheby’s, the world’s oldest auction house, opened a Decentraland replica of its iconic New Bond Street London Galleries in the Voltaire Art District. 

Complete with all five lower level gallery displays found in the IRL auction house, Decentraland Sotheby’s also includes a digital recreation of Hans Lomulder, Sotheby’s mainstay London Commissionaire, who greets guests upon entry.

The opening was timed for the launch of Natively Digital, a curated NFT sale that culminated on June 10 with the sale of Cryptopunk 7529. Another highlight: Robert Alice’s Intelligent NFT (iNFT) which learns as it is spoken to. 

As Sotheby’s head of sales explained, “We see spaces like Decentraland as the next frontier for digital art where artists, collectors and viewers alike can engage with one another from anywhere in the world and showcase art that is fundamentally scarce and unique, but accessible to anyone for viewing.” 

Atari Casino

Atari—maker of beloved OG video games like Space Invaders and Frogger— is building a cryptocurrency casino in the Vegas City district of Decentraland. There, they are leasing plots of land on initial 2-year terms and, as anchor tenants, they plan to open the Atari Casino.

Of course, these games of chance will all be based on classic Atari games, as the company tests new ways to turn their existing IP into social and monetization opportunities. Players will also have the opportunity to explore the casino for exclusive wearables distributed throughout. 

This is all part of Atari’s broader push into crypto, having created a blockchain division to develop its own cryptocurrency, the Atari Token ($ATRI), as it looks to evolve for a new generation of digital consumers. 

With the casino, Atari is merely testing the waters here, throwing different iterations of branded IP at the virtual wall and seeing what sticks. In the meantime, they are establishing themselves as early arrivers to the Decentraland’s ostensible vice district, where gambling is certain to take off. Whatever form metaverse gambling takes, Atari would like to be one of the metaverse brands capitalizing on it. 

Heineken Silver

Not all brand activations, of course, are intended to be taken entirely seriously. 

Heineken, for example, recently released Heineken Silver, a virtual beer that is, even according to the brand, “an ironic joke.”

Filtered with “supefast megabytes and through the best firewalls,” the beer is available in Decentraland, within a virtual space including brewing tanks, a DJ booth, a dance floor, and, of course, a bar. The launch party even featured a “pixelated lobster” main course. 

As their global head of brand noted, "For now, you can't taste pixels and bytes. So, we want to make a joke about that and remind everyone that nothing beats the taste of a refreshing beer, including our new virtual Heineken Silver, in the real world."

This is brilliant, plain and simple, and the first two words in that quote should tell you everything you need to know (“for now”). No, the technology is not yet available to provide sensory experiences in Decentraland, but you can bet that, when it is, Heineken will be there. 

Until then, they are gonna crack some jokes about how silly it all is and remind you that their IRL beer still is delicious and, well, real. But by claiming space in the metaverse and positioning themselves as a wise-cracking party animal within it, they are entirely serious about sticking their flag in Decentraland and ensuring we all notice them doing it. 

Mastercard Pride Plaza

In honor of Pride month, and in an earnest effort to capitalize on it, Mastercard opened the Mastercard Pride Plaza in Decentraland, an in-world gathering space built around their Pride Forum Stage.

There, Mastercard “offers opportunities for community members and allies to connect in a space where attendees are encouraged to be their true selves.”  This includes conversations with LGBTQIA+ thought leaders, immersive experiences, and, of course, showcases of unique NFT wearables from LGBTQIA+ artists.

Other available experiences include taking a “true selfie” on one of three unique Pride parade floats. There is also a “wearable artists” section where visitors can read about the featured LGBTQIA+ artists who created the NFTs for sale. 

Metaverse Fashion Week

Finally, Decentraland hosted its first fashion week, with a slate full of luxury brands, including Etro, Dolce & Gabbana, Perry Ellis, Elie Aaab, Dundas, Imitation of Christ(!) and Estée Lauder. 

Each fashion house presented shows in the Decentraland Fashion Arena, with model avatars (Dolce and Gabbana used cats) walking the figure-eight runway before the models were tractor-beamed into space.

The event was, according to reports, not very well attended, but perhaps that’s not the point. A good amount of IRL hype was generated by the fashion show and Decentraland continues to establish itself as the natural choice for brands looking to break into the metaverse. 

Vogue covered the event—itself a sign of Decentraland’s fashion ascendancy—and though they could not avoid the occasional joke, the House that Wintour built cannot help but recognize the vast potential for fashion branding and monetization within the metaverse. 

“There are communities of people who are replicating in various metaverse outposts behaviors that people (or people dressed as elves) have long cultivated in reality. And fashion is one of those behaviors,” the magazine concludes.

Like everything else in the metaverse, it will just take some time for fashion enthusiasts to acclimate themselves to the virtual realities of the metaverse, but when they do, these fashion events will become better attended, more influential, and far more profitable.